As I write this, the Globelines Broadband connection I have at home is still horrendously slow. It is a 7.8 mbps line to nowhere. I was giddy upon seeing for the first time the notification that my connection to Globelines is 7.8 mbps (it used to say 2 mbps). Now, the notice feels like a taunt.

It takes about as much time to load pages with Globelines Broadband right now as it would take a Sinulog contingent to finish a dance. To say the connection is as slow as molasses would be to overstate the viscosity of the substance.

It was a good thing that I use Gmail for mobile application in my phone, a Sony Ericsson k750i using a Smart pre-paid subscription. I can open my GMail messages faster on my phone than I could using Globelines in my home PC. Half of the time, I couldn’t even get past the Gmail login screen when I use the Globelines connection.

I finally got my Sony Ericsson K750i to work with the Gmail for mobile application released last week. The first time I tried it, I couldn’t get the inbox to load.

It was puzzling as I could access the Internet using Opera Mini. I kept changing Internet settings and I still couldn’t go past the “loading” screen for the inbox. Just as frustration was threatening to boil over, I spotted the solution.

ACCESSING GMAIL ON K750i. I finally got to connect to my Gmail account using my Sony Ericsson K750i and a Smart Buddy connection. Click on photo to enlarge.

It turns out that you have to specify the Internet settings for Java applications in the K750i. If you’re using a Sony Ericsson with a Smart account, this might do the trick for you: Go to Settings then Connectivity then Settings for Java and pick Smart Internet. That solved the issue for me and I can now use Gmail on my phone.

The application is indeed faster and better to use. I have never been able to use the K750i’s default email program to connect to my Gmail account. I remember spending days trying to make it work a few months back, to no avail.

I tested the recently released GMail for mobile application, a java program for your phone to connect to what is probably the world’s best e-mail service, and I couldn’t get it to work. Up to now, hours after I installed it, the phone still can’t open my inbox and I only get a screen that says “loading.”

Gmail for mobile application makes access to your email from your phone easy, if your phone supports it and you can make it work. Click on photo to enlarge.

The installation went fine. I went to gmail.com/app and I was prompted to download the program. I clicked on download Gmail and the program was downloaded in just a few minutes, at such a cheap GPRS rate at 10 pesos.

I promptly entered my username and password. It was torture doing so using the phone keypad as I use a 30-character password. When I clicked on sign in, the phone screen just displayed loading. I waited for several minutes before exiting the application and opening it again, still no luck.